The present invention generally relates to healthcare monitoring devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wearable, network connected healthcare monitoring system for monitoring injury or activity.
Repetitive tasks that are performed in many aspects of daily life may lead to strain and/or stress injuries. Such injuries frequently occur in a population such as individuals using assistive devices such as walkers, wheelchairs for example, and/or individuals engaged in occupational situations such as repeated load carriage, repeated gripping tasks, etc.
One example of an assistive device in which requires repeated physical effort on the part of a user is a wheelchair that is manually operated. Such wheelchair users must effectively learn to walk with their hands. Over 3 million manual wheelchair users (MWCUs) in the U.S. face this reality every day. Research shows that about 70% of MWCUs (approximately 2.1 million in U.S. alone) experience debilitating shoulder injuries within the first 12 months of using a manual wheelchair due to repetitive propulsion. Shoulder pain in MWCUs negatively impacts their quality and independence of living. Moreover, this pain increases their disability and health care costs.
Studies have shown that clinical training of MWCUs on proper propulsion technique and providing continuous feedback on their propulsion technique reduces the risk of shoulder injury. However such training is not widely accessible to MWCU and clinicians.
FIG. 1 illustrates the current status of such propulsion technique training. As shown in FIG. 1, today the MWCU must leave their home and travel to a clinical and/or research facility. At the facility, the MWCU demonstrates their usage of the wheelchair for a clinician and the clinician evaluates their usage of the wheelchair. This evaluation typically required the MWCU is use a specialized device or equipment with force sensing instrumented wheels. Such equipment typically costs in excess of U.S. $40,000. Additionally, MWCU access to the facility may be constrained because there are only a limited number of available professionals with the capacity to provide such analysis and training. Also, MWCUs face various barriers such as arranging transportation and the cost of transportation that may reduce their ability to visit specialized clinics to receive training. Consequently, many MWCUs do not receive this analysis and training, or may not receive it in a timely manner. This in turn exposes the MWCUs to higher injury risk and higher health care costs, especially due to the cost of having to treat additional stress and/or strain injuries that might arise.
Additionally, such clinical training may not capture the daily reality of the MWCU's physical activity because the clinical evaluation is an artificial situation wherein the MWCU knows that their physical activity is being evaluated and consequently is seeking to emulate the most proper technique for the clinician. Consequently, the clinician's ability to analyze and give feedback with regard to the MWCU's typically technique may be limited. Additionally, the clinical evaluation typically lasts for only a finite amount of time and consequently may not allow the clinician an opportunity to accurately evaluate the physical motion of the MWCU when the MWCU is fatigued and may be more susceptible to injury.